Harry Potter and the Cradle of Fire
by Lucifer Dodge
Summary: As the party goes on Harry enters the grounds, after getting possessed he sees his hero, however why has he visited. T or some language
1. The Fire and the Flame

**Chapter 1**

**The Fire and the Flame**

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Harry turned to see the Grand Entrance, packed with students, students from every house and year; this was except the Slytherins who had left. They were mingling around, talking, not just about the day's events but also about the latest gossip, some even were boasting of the fact that they knew Harry Potter personally, however this was not the case and most had never talked to him properly before.

As Harry started to walk down the marble steps, coloured grey, that sparkled in the candlelight and the chandelier that had chippings in half of its light bulbs from the avid fighting and the desperate battle between good and evil, Harry however wished this was the last, and only, time he would have to be in the heart of a battle between the two forces, however knowing him he knew it would happen again.

People facing the steps were now pointing to him, the drinks losing the attention being paid towards them, and stared in shock to see the presence that had made this day theirs. They all applauded, some whistled, they all were happy to see their new hero.

As they stepped aside Harry waved his hand to them. He was finally happy with the publicity that was around him, being back in the limelight of the wizard world he was happy. He stepped up to the grand wooden doors that had helped them defend the castle just an hour ago and swung them open, to reveal the crisp cool air that surrounded the medieval castle.

Outside the bodies had been removed. The dead had been named and a list of them were being made now, the tragedy that had been boiling for almost 17 years had erupted tonight, and as the westward wind blew the cradle fell. Voldemort had been defeated and Harry was joyous of it.

He headed off down the path to the Greenhouses. He suddenly remembered Neville, he had really helped them tonight, and he remembered the boy who had almost lost his frog on the train, who had an overcritical grandmother. Whose parents had died at the hands of Voldemort. He remembered the time that Moody had told him the Sprout thought high of him, however it was in fact Mr Crouch's son impersonating Moody.

Harry looked in one of the Houses. The greenery shone out, with the trees of all different colours, the leaves, the herbs. Professor Sprout had been a good teacher, but he would never have her as a teacher again, none of them as a teacher again.

He looked across the field. The lake really stood out, like that one red shirt in a cloud of blue. He started to sprint over to it, out of breathe by the time he got there, he just stared, gazing into the deep blue that illuminated the moon that had risen during the battle.

Glancing up at the stars he wondered if it had been this beautiful during the battle. It was times like these that he wished to count every single one of them, and upon each one wished that a dream would come true. However he knew there were too many, but the more he stared something seemed to fill him. A presence a fiery one, one that he hadn't felt since the first spell had erupted from his wand at the start of the battle, the first time he had met Dumbledore in person. It was weird that he had just remembered him.

Suddenly, without warning or thought, he turned and headed into the direction of the ominous trees in the background that made up the Forbidden Forest. It was ce5rtainly against his better judgement, and maybe it had been sparked by the elation of winning, the ecstasy of a victory, or was it something else, something he could not tell of or describe.

He passed Hagrid's Cabin, the shack where the groundskeeper, and giant, Hagrid had lived. He walked into the shadow that was formed by the intimidating trees that formed the most dangerous forest, one he had stepped into first in his first year, as punishment for walking the corridors of the castle at night.

He felt blood trickle down his arm from where the tree had scratched him and left in its place a red wound, yet he kept on going , the pain merely angering the flame inside him and making it stronger.

He climbed a wooden log, almost tripping up it when bouldering over it. He entered a clearing. On all sides the trees seemed to close in on him. He took a step closer in, looking down he saw a massive pile of dead leaves, shrubs and bushes. They seemed to come up to almost his knees, as he drew close to them they all of a sudden blew up into flames, causing fire to spread high up, his eyes were sparkling red as they clouded over him. Then without any reason to Dumbledore's face appeared through the flames, they formed his face, and within seconds it disappeared and the fire grew and grew.

"Aguamenti" A cry came from behind, as Harry felt the flame disappear with the fire. Ginny, Ron and Hermione all casted the spell, much to Harry's delight, they came up to him as the shrubs turned black and charred.

"What happened to you Harry?" Hermione said in her usual casual-sympathetic voice.

"I...I...I," He said trying to first think of the words which he could use to describe it before stuttering out the same word repeatedly, until he finally got it out of his mouth, "Something inside of me... it made me... then the bushes... and Dumbledore app..." Ron interrupted him in the usual loud and melodramatic way he always did when he heard something he couldn't believe.

"Dumbledore! Dumbledore is dead." In a matter of fact tone he continued, "How could he appear?"

"I... I don't know"

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Ok so my first fanfic.

Sorry if I drole on about past effects it was just to get you in the mood to be changed from that mood

Please review or I may not write more...

:P

:D


	2. The Cradle of Fire

**Chapter 2**

**The Cradle of Fire**

* * *

The four friends sat round the fire in the common room. They were still discussing the events that had taken place in the forest, with Harry leading the tale. This was until Ginny decided to reveal something that could be very similar to what they were talking about, the madness of Snape.

"This may have had something to do with what happened to Snape, maybe Dumbledore kept on appearing round him." She started trying to get Harry interested, "The first time was when we went to the Somme, learning about wizard involvement in the war. As we went up the path, back to our camps, at about 11 at night, all the stars out, all seemed peaceful. We entered the camp when McGonagall came racing up the path and whispered something to Professor Flitwick, I wasn't near them but it seemed that Lavender was. As she came over to our tents she said to us that McGonagall had been there to say that Snape had disappeared into the forest, she just saw him go off and chased after him. By the time she got to the forest he had disappeared into the forest and she couldn't tell where he had gone."

"What happened next?" Ron interrupted eager to hear what happened to his most disliked teacher.

"I'm getting to it Ron so either shut up or go away." She snapped at him not happy at his interruption, she continued, "So as I was saying," glaring at Ron, "McGonagall went off with Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn. After three days they returned in the dead of night, when I needed to go to the toilet, I saw them dragging a shacking Snape. From what I heard he had been trailing the woods for three days and didn't remember a thing, they couldn't even jog his memory and were frightened about if he had met Voldemort. After that we only saw him rarely on the trip till the last day when he was back to his Malfoy loving self.

"The next time was when I went to steal the Gryffindor Sword," Harry shivered remembering the time when he had overheard the goblins in the forest, "when he came up he seemed to be talking to himself at first, but as he came up he got to a point where he was almost screaming with someone and was still doing it when he entered the office, he also said 'Days have gone since I bowed down to you!' at first it sounded like he was talking to Voldemort but now, if you think about it, he wouldn't have gone against Voldemort and maybe it was Dumbledore, Dumbledore getting him to do a job. I would be careful Harry. You don't want a repeat of last year."

Harry sat there, thinking. Would Dumbledore really put him through what he had suffered last year? Would he accept it? And what would there be to do?

"Well it is getting late Harry, Hermione... Ron" she said the last one with entire grievance at her brother she could muster up before kissing Harry, which was much to Ron's disgust.

"You have to stop doing that mate," Ron said in his old she's my sister attitude, "You going to bed?"

"Yeah, goodnight Hermione." He said following Ron up the stairs.

Hermione sat on the couch, the fire flickering in front of her, the crackling being more soothing than anything else. She looked at the pile of books in front of her and decided to see if there was anything of interest in the pile; the first one was "Hogwarts: A History?" she had read that book over and over again and could not be bothered with it another time, she thought she knew too much about the history of the school so reading it again was pointless. The next one was the "Guide to all Spells and Incantation" she doubted that would be any use. She carried on until with only three books left a title startled her: "The Guide to the Dead and Beyond".

It was dusty but she could still make out the gold that formed the framework of the book. She had never thought she had seen this book before, and anyway it wasn't a title she would really think to enjoy. But maybe it would be useful, it couldn't hurt to try. She swung the cover open, after dusting down it, on the front page was a symbol, it was a sun, and in front of it was a skull, it seemed to be the size of a baby's, what it meant she did not know. It was handwritten and must have cost a fortune to but, now and then, there was a date in the top right hand corner was a date "A.D 345" she thought that it would have been the first time that the year would have been put on it, she knew the calendar was not invented for another 1400 years almost, being at the start of the 19th century. She looked at the name below it Gaius Marcus Constans. She thought about this name. He had owned the book, but how did she get it.

She read through the night, being in Latin she had to use her broad knowledge of runes to read it however because she was very adept to them she managed it without a fuss. She then got to one chapter that really struck out amongst the rest, "The Cradle of Fire". It was very short and unlike the rest was not on rituals or burial practises.

""The Cradle of Fire" is one of the most hidden artefacts of the past. Its tireless history extends to the 300s B.C where it's path, and whereabouts, was lost. An Egyptian artefact, it is known to be an object that can bring the dead back to life. How it does that is through a long ritual and an incantation which is unknown to most modern society. We do know that you can bring certain people back to life and its power is immense.

"To open the Cradle we only know cer..."

The page had been ripped off at that point; she sat there before yawning and falling asleep on the couch, her dreams filled with the "Cradle of Fire".

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Ooh I am nasty. I have put you on another cliff-hanger, oh well the next chapter is up, and if it is not to you it will be in a few seconds because I have written a few already, well please may you review, or I will not write more.

Please Review or you will not know what Dumbledore wants, or is it not Dumbledore and why is Hermione so keen on that chapter.


	3. The Falling of Rita

**Chapter 3**

**The Fall of the Rita**

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Harry was greeted in the morning by rays of sunlight of every colour through the tinted glass that formed lions in the crest shaped windows.

Harry looked around the room. Last night he was too tired to be able to actually take in what the Common Room looked like, and it looked nothing like what he remembered. There were bottles of butterbeer on the floor with flags and liquid on the floor looked yellowy like wine, or something else.

He opened the door to the stairs, not having to change because he had slept in his clothes due to lack of clothing to put on in its place, and he ran down them to greet an already awake Hermione.

"Hey, Hermione," he said, then seeing her face pale and wasted he asked, "Are you O.K?"

"No, I am feeling really tired and slightly disorientated." She said looking up. As she saw him getting worried and frowning she hastily added on, "But I am fine"

He sat next to her. She was reading the book she had picked up yesterday.

"Harry I found this book and it had something interesting in it. It said something about the "Cradle of Fire", and I think it may have been why you saw Dumbledore, listen.

"'"The Cradle of Fire" is one of the most hidden artefacts of the past. Its tireless history extends to the 300s B.C where it's path, and whereabouts, was lost. An Egyptian artefact, it is known to be an object that can bring the dead back to life. How it does that is through a long ritual and an incantation which is unknown to most modern society. We do know that you can bring certain people back to life and its power is immense.'

"It then goes on to say something else but the page is ripped out, on the other side is something about the ritual of the dead in Mexico and it would not be interesting so I think this is what they wanted and why they tore the page."

Harry looked down at the book. Maybe Dumbledore wanted him to bring him back to life, or maybe to bring someone else back to life. There seemed to be no other explanation, at this point, to why Dumbledore would show up. But he knew Dumbledore would never mess with death, so why...

He waited, just browsing over all the events that had taken place over the last few months. He looked over at the book Hermione was still skimming over, she was about half way through by the looks of it and seemed to be indulged into it, then suddenly Ginny Weasley, who he had rarely seen over the last year, whom he loved, came down the stairs.

"Hey Harry," she said, cheerily, then coming over to him she leant over and kissed him passionately on the lips until backing away and sitting at his feet, back to couch, "You Hermione and us are going on holiday to the New Forest."

"Us?" He said inquiringly, worried about who us might be, "the Weasley's" she answered him with the most glee se could put into it. She wanted to be with Harry, but it seemed difficult in the past with her family, so going into the New Forest would be good, it would mean she could go off with him without any chance of her snooping and prying mother finding her.

She reached over to the small coffee table to the side of the couch and picked up the Daily Prophet, which always was put there in the morning. On the Front Page was a large picture of Harry and behind him was cheering crowds, with a massive title of "Harry Potter routs Death-Eaters" she decided not to read it but did notice the name on the by-line "Julia Smith" it must mean that that dreadful bitch of a woman, Rita Skeeter. The next page held the answer, a large moving picture of Rita Skeeter walking down a street in the pouring rain; coat over face, being half dragged by two large policemen; the title was "Rita has never looked so sweeter". The section underneath added on, "Press woman placed in jail for donations and letters sent between her and Lord Voldemort over the capturing and killing muggles, one reveals murder she committed".

"She was disgusting," Ginny said.

"Who?" Harry querying, interested.

"Rita Skeeter, listen" Ginny replied and started to read the newspaper, "Rita Skeeter, 47, is famous for her best known works like "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" and the very popular in its day "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?" has now been exposed. Just a day after the defeat of Voldemort, she has been accused of attacking and harming undefended muggles and even giving Voldemort £65 million for his campaign of terror. "Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, Amos! I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry!" —Molly Weasley. Although Rita wrote primarily for The Daily Prophet, some of her articles have also appeared in other sources, such as Witch Weekly and The Quibbler. Rita is an unregistered Animagus who uses her form of a beetle to slip around unnoticed and spy on people to obtain fodder for her articles. In 1981, at the end of the First Wizarding War, she reported on the trials of Death Eaters such as Igor Karkaroff. However her fame was fleeting and was criticised for bending the truth or merely coming up with new facts that aren't true.

"She was heavily criticised by anonymous critics for her book "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" for, "Being over parallel to the truth of what actually happened and was only there to slander the old greats reputation in the Wizarding community so that she could support the dark arts further". Letters were found in several locations as the raiding of the night were carried on and a total of roughly 25 wizards are going to be going down the same road. Other wizards may include Argus McNealy, now known murderer of 16 year old Colin Creevey, Augustus Flint, an up-to-now unknown wizard and most famous of all Peter Pettigrew will be facing trial.

"If found guilty of funding the Voldemort campaign she will be fined a total of £150 million however she may be facing life in Azkaban if found guilty of murder. It is well known that Pettigrew will be most likely be facing death for the amount of murders."

Ginny folded up the newspaper and placed it on the floor. She then proceeded to pick up the brush on the table and tidy her hair.

"I am still feeling sick of the murder of Colin Creevey."

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OK so chapter three is up and I will be putting up the next two by tomorrow and just to let you know I am using the harry potter wiki for events after the second Wizarding war.

Review or no more for you

:P

Anyhoo thankyou and I hope you enjoyed


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